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Can TC develop rookies and win with them?

IMHO Coughlin can do this when he wants to, but only when he has exhausted all other options. Poor Andy Reid is suffering, but he seems to get more out of rookie, offensive skill players than anyone else, and a lot of other coaches seem to get more earlier from their top picks. TC sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy. He doesn't like rookie mistakes and he favors veteran players. If he communicates that thought, and he has and he does, rookie players, in fact no player, will respond well to reduced/diminished expectations. The other half of the story is, of course they won't get the opportunity to develop and consequently their development is ******ed.

Is this an anachronistic policy? In my opinion yes. Given the short life expectancy of an NFL career, you just can't have 20% of your team playing suicide squad or warming the bench. And given the injury casualty rate, and the frequency and severity of injuries in today's game, you need to have confidence that you can play your rookies in the second half of the season and win with them.

Admittedly this is a matter of degree and I think TC is a very good coach, but this appears to be an area of concern with Tom. Furthermore, given Reese's penchant for picking raw talent (aka "projects"), IMHO he hasn't exactly got the right coach for that strategy.

I don't think it's about picking sides and just taking veterans over rookie draft picks. It's really the about the rookie draft picks being able to perform in practice and in the game, basically being able to play at the NFL level and not making too many mistakes. There were some rookies that got a starting role early in their rookie season under Coughlin like Nicks, A. Ross, K. Phillips.